Sonic Unleashed Walkthrough & Strategy Guide

Published: Jan 23, 2009

Sonic Unleashed Basics

Without mastering Sonic in both his normal and werehog forms, you'll struggle through Unleashed. We're here to help. These tips aren't just standard fare bits of advice, as they'll teach you some new tricks. With these and a little hands-on experience, you'll conquer the primary stages, and dominate the shorter, challenge-type missions.

Runner's Advice

Werehog Style

Stunning Enemies

After the introductory missions, you'll be able to stun foes, which is an immensely useful tactic. To perform it, sprint toward your aggressors, then move both the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk simultaneously. Sonic will swing both of his hands outward, and any normal-sized foe caught up in the attack will be dizzied. This negative effect lasts for a fairly long while, so you can use it to incapacitate enemies you'll come back to later.

Flatten Everything

Pottery fears nothing more than a werehog scorned. Every planter, vase, jug and barrel should suffer your wrath. Destroying these objects will fill up your Unleashed meter, which you'll want to occasionally use against big groups of baddies, and particularly problematic bosses. Likewise, any cracked walls, damaged doorways, and crumpled hatches are fair game. Remember this rule of thumb: if it looks fragile and breakable, it probably is.

Conserving Rings

You may be tempted to pick up any rings you spy, but if a battle's happening, try to hold off. Collecting rings refills your life meter, and you never know when you'll be stuck between a low HP and a hard foe. Of course, if there aren't any enemies around and you're at full health, you shouldn't hesitate—snag any rings you find. Along with your timeliness and Force Orbs collected, they're considered when you're judged at the stage's end.

Practicing Moves

Every time you unlock a new werehog ability, a related stage will become available in Apotos. Revisit your original haunt, and play through all of those missions to learn your extra moves. Additionally, you should replay all of the early, mandatory assignments to make sure that you're aware of your full arsenal. Enemies will get significantly more resilient as you get further into Unleashed, and retaliating skillfully will make things easier on you.

Reading the Map

Secret areas are always visible on your mini-map, even if you haven't walked through them yet. If you're in a spot where you're sure there's a hidden path, but you're not quite certain how to reach it, look at the mini-map. Keeping an eye on it will make you realize that Unleashed's secrets are more obvious than well-kept.

Running Cancel

If you're about to accidentally run into something undesirable, you may not have time to halt normally. In those situations, leap into the air, then jump a second time. The double-jump cancels out your sprint, and when you land, you'll be standing still.

Moon Medals

Whenever you want to earn a bunch of Moon Medals, you should shoot for S Rankings in normal Sonic stages. Although you can knock out some of the simpler missions—e.g., collect 200 rings quickly—for one medal per, the full-blown stages have a bigger payoff. If you reach the goal within the time limit—it's listed directly above your constantly counting timer—you'll automatically earn an S Rank, and all three of the stage's Moon Medals.

Special Routes

While you're rushing to beat these time limits, keep in mind that every main Sonic stage has multiple routes. You'll have to discover these secret passages if you want an S Ranking, as you can't obtain them if you run along regular paths, no matter how fast you are. What you'll want to keep a look out for are rings in an out-of-the-way area, enemies that pop up to your side for seemingly no reason, and similarly suspicious visual cues.

Don't Second Guess

Aside from keeping your eyes open, you'll need to believe in yourself. Yeah, seriously! Confidence plays an incredibly important role here. When you're racing the clock but you're not headed in a straight line, you may get nervous, and overcompensate by tapping the analog stick too many times. As a result, you'll wobble back and forth, and won't get back on track. That's where confidence comes in, as you have to trust your initial judgment! A single tap is all you'll usually need to get lined up properly. If that doesn't suffice, you're possibly too off-track anyway and may need to restart.

Also, if you're approaching a corner and you know there's a dash pad ahead, don't worry about using a Sonic Drift or adjusting your trajectory too much. As long as you come in contact with the pad, you will be automatically launched in the correct direction.

Sonic Boosting

Don't forget to collect rings, either. Since they refill your Sonic Boost meter—which you'll need to abuse if you want S Rankings—they're essential to your victory. When you do use them, be mindful of the where and the when. If you're near a launch ramp or enemy that leads to a special area, using a Sonic Boost could make you miss it. On the other hand, Boosting when you're about to hit a launch pad will send you into a top-speed Sonic Spin.

Shallow Jumping

Courtesy of Secret Document 003: "By tapping jump, Sonic can perform a low-altitude "quick jump," perfect for going up shallow stairs at top speed when you want to climb without losing your pace!"

Lightspeed Dash

Hailing from the original "Sonic Adventure," the Lightspeed Dash enables you to fly along an airborne trail of rings. To perform this maneuver, simply press the Sonic Boost button after you've started running into a line of them. Not only will this ability help you traverse otherwise impassable pits, but because it lines you up perfectly with the direction the rings are leading in, it's a fantastic way to realign yourself.

Classic Controls

When you're trying to shave milliseconds off of your best time, you don't want to accidentally Boost off a ledge, or leap when you'd rather Stomp. Excitement and motion sensing can get the best of you, but if you use a Classic or GameCube controller, you'll cut out the latter half of that threat. Button presses can be more responsive than motions, and every tutorial—both for normal Sonic and the werehog version—has a version that's tailored to the different peripherals. Thus, you can switch controllers even if you've played a considerable chunk of the game with another kind; simply change your configuration, return to Apotos, and complete the introductory assignments to re-learn the necessary commands.

Gaia Gate Puzzles

Within each Gaia Gate, three to four puzzle rooms wait to be solved. They're hidden behind the doors emblazoned with the sun and moon, and those can only be unlocked when you've collected a certain amount of medals. Completing these isn't essential, but it's the only way to collect Extra Lives. Since those become a permanent part of your stock, you'll want to collect a slew prior to heading into especially tough areas, like the final stage.

These puzzles make unique use of the day and night mechanic. You'll enter as a werehog, but strolling beneath beams of light will turn you normal. This is an ability you'll need to employ thoughtfully. For example, let's say there's a conveyor belt which you simply can't compete with in your werehog form. If you turn into normal Sonic, running against it will come easily. Likewise, you may need to block something with a crate, but you can't lift those without the werehog's strength.

To give you an even clearer idea, here's a video of Apotos's three puzzles, and how to complete them. This should help you understand how Gaia Gate puzzles are solved.

If you're wondering why there aren't any items, they were there the first time! You may have also realized that falling into a pit can actually be useful, for once. It's a quick way to return yourself to the entrance, and/or to reset a puzzle.